Experimenting with Paper!

I was first introduced to 'paper cutting' in my early teens.
An 'Aunt' of mine (not really related, just close friend of the family we called Aunt) made really great cards using a paper technique called quilling.  I remember her teaching me how to make little roses an other flowers and I got pretty into for a while.
Later on I even used to create cards for the doctors office I worked at for our employees birthdays using paper cutting, they were pretty simple.

I saw Brittney Lee's paper pieces a few years ago and at first I wasn't crazy about them (her early ones), but eventually they grew on me as she did more of them and now I really love the intricate pieces she does.
I have since seen other people doing some really fun pieces using this same technique like Petra Varga, who has been nice enough to share her approach with me.

I decided to attempt a piece using this paper cutting method and I have to say I learned a lot.
This is a time consuming, but addictive process.
I did my own take on it by painting an acrylic background and then placing paper cut figures on top to see the effect it would give.
This was an experiment for later pieces I have in mind.
Here was my process:

I first did a sketch

I cleaned up the sketch on my computer and printed it off, transferring my drawing to the colored pieces of paper. I cut those piece out using these tools (the tweezers were to handle the really small bits)

If I didn't have quite the right color, I painted it on.
Cutting the pieces out is probably what took me the longest amount of time.
I then started assembling my pieces together glued them onto the background image I had painted earlier.

This is my final product

The scene is from one of my all time favorite movies, "Singing in the Rain" where Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse do an incredible dance sequence.

Overall, it was a fun and challenging project to try out and I plan to do plenty more!

"Once upon a Wintertime"

I love digging up old Disney animations. There's something very nostalgic and magical about them. Here's one of my favorites:

"Once upon a Wintertime"

Happy Holidays!

 Happy Holidays friends and family!

Another semester comes to an end...

Phew!
The semester is FINALLY over! This one was tough for me.
There was a lot to deal with and it really made it a hard semester for me to get through. There were times I got really discouraged, but I pushed on the best I could.
I'm really trying to appreciate those difficult moments more and be grateful I have chosen a path that will constantly keep me growing as an artist and a person.
The high points are definitely worth it. I love to draw, no matter what!
Here are some sketches I did just for fun:

(Inspired by the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show)

Hot Chocolate

One of my favorite memories growing up during the dreary rainy days, was when I would make myself a mug of warm Milo or Holicks sit in my room and read Enid Blyton books. The sound of the rain hitting my window and the heater turned up made those winter days so cozy...

Big Birds

In 2 weeks, this semester will be over and and I will only have 6mths left before I graduate.
This has felt so far away for so long, it's crazy to think that now it's just around the corner!
I have been going back and forth on ideas with what to focus on for my BFA show. Should I have a theme? Should I stick to one style or show a variety? Then I realized that this will not be the one and only show I will ever do, so rather than stressing about fitting in ALL the ideas that are buzzing through my head in one show and getting them all done in such a short time period, I should pace myself and try to enjoy the moment and just do what I can. I know I'll have plenty more growing to do and so if it turns out to be the worst show I do, then I can only do better next time, right?

This is another assignment I did for class and since I feel a lot like the girl in the picture at times, I thought it would be an appropriate one to share with this post!

CTN Expo 2012!!!

It's already been a whole 2 weeks since CTN!
Coming up on finals for my classes and then I will be swamped for the next 6mths working on my BFA (and a whole new set of classes for Spring)
Life is crazy, but in a good way.


And CTN, WOW!
What an incredible experience.
Ok, this is going to be a long post!
I wasn't sure what to expect with CTN because I've never been to a con before, but I was excited for it. I discovered CTN from artist's blogs I love to follow. So many of then kept posting about how they were going to have a booth at this conference and I just knew I had to go.
They have discounts for school students and I saw UVU wasn't listed, so I called and had our school added to the list! (woohoo discount!)

Before going, I studied the site like crazy of what to expect. (Everytime I saw the list of artists that were going to be there, I literally would geek out.)
And let me just say, I was not disappointed.

I rode down with my class mates Adam Munoa and Nate Call while the rest of the group came out separately.
We entertained ourselves with 'Adventure time' and "Arrested Development' episodes and mostly just talked the whole way. I was too excited to sleep (which usually happens to me during road trips) and we made it to California in great time.
We stayed at my friend's place and they took great care of us!

On Thursday morning I got to go to the Disney Animation Studio in Burbank where I was lucky enough to be a part of the tour.

From the murals on the walls to the concept art for Disney's new flick that will be coming out soon, "Frozen", chatting with Elsa Chang, hearing Victoria Ying talk about "Wreck it Ralph" and seeing Brittney Lee's candy model of Sugar Rush' for the film was all amazing!!!

Then that night we got to go to the "Rise of the Guardians" preview at the Dreamworks Studios. I was pleasantly surprised. Original character designs, with a really cute story. I wish we could have toured that studio too!

Friday morning we were off to CTN!

The first person I saw when I walked into the hall was Pascal Campion, I walked straight over to him and he said, "You must be Rani"
AHHHHH! He knew my name! (Yes, it's because I stalk his art!)
But from that point on I was a giddy mess.
Pascal gave me a book and a hug and I bought a print from him.
(I wish I could have bought all of them!)

Then, the next person I see? Brittney freakin' Lee! I have followed her blog for 5 years when I discovered her Rapunzel piece on Illustration Friday . (That was before I went back to school and she has been an inspiration to me ever since!) She was so nice to this babbling fan (which I'm sure she's used to) and I bought a few things from her booth... it felt like Christmas!

I went on to meet so many more incredible artists buying prints and making friends along the way.

(Some artists I got to meet: Bobby Chiu, Jean Baptist Monge, J Scott Campbell, Chris Oatley, Kei Acedera, Bill Robinson, Brett Bean, Cale Atkinson, Chris Oatley, Cory Godbey, David Colman, De' Von Stubblefield, Dominick Domingo, Elena & Olivia Ceballos, Elsa Chang, Genevieve Tsai, J Scott Campbell, Jake Parker, Marcelo Vignali, Ryan Woodward, Sean Galloway, Victoria Ying , Betsy Bauer, Cassandra Poulson, Steph Laberis, Tuna Bora, Ty Carter, Trevor Spencer, Andrea Fernandez, Mike Yamada, Elena and Olivia Ceballos, Sean Galloway,  and many more.)
I have links to most of their blogs/sites on the side bar of my blog so you can check out their work!

Elena & Olivia Ceballos

The next 3 days was filled with workshops, demonstrations, sketching live models, portfolio reviews and just having a fun time.

At the "Dames of Fame" workshop with Terryl Whitlatch, Brittney Lee, Carole Police and Sue Dicicco.

Meeting the artists was of course the highlight of the trip and I cannot express enough how down to earth and friendly they all were. It was intimidating enough and I'm sure I came across like some sort of crazed excited canine every time I saw one of my idols but they still treated me so nicely! :D
I admire how genuine these artists were and love that the people in the animation industry aren't pretentious.

I splurged and got some goodies and if I were rich I would have bought a lot more because I love these artist and want to support them all!

One day when I have a studio of my own, these prints will be covering my walls:

When it was all over I was exhausted from the whole overwhelming experience.
I slept on the car ride home.
The excitement and the realization of what I need to work towards drained me, but in a good way.
It made me even more motived to push myself to be the best artist I can be.

I know I have a long way to go and it will be difficult,  I may never get there, but I'm excited for the journey ahead of me to find my own voice. Seriously, what better way to spend my life then pursuing my dreams? I will definitely go to CTN as many times as I can afford to because it really was an experience of a lifetime.

A little tribute...

For my Advanced Illustration class I am studying some people that I most admire.
A couple of those artists are Pascal Campion and Brittney Lee.
This past weekend I got to meet both of them at CTN, which was AMAZING and I will post more on that soon.
Here's a piece I did for my class influenced by them and inspired by my mother:

Business Cards

I'll be heading to California for the first time ever next week to attend the CTN Expo!
I'm SO excited that I will get a chance to meet so many amazing artists in one place.
There will be workshops, demonstrations and even networking and recruiting opportunities.
I'll be going with a group of Illustration students from school and will post all about it when I get back! Here's the business card I made for the event:

 

Winter is coming!

Pull your coats out of storage, it's time for winter.
The week has been grey, cold and windy. Did this sketch to get my mind of my assignments for a second...

Window Sill

I have been wanting to do a series of images that relate to my East Indian heritage and I hope at some point I will have time to work on it. For now, here is an image that I sketched and painted today.

I may not have grown up in India, but I am grateful to be a part of such a beautiful culture.

The colorful clothing, the music that makes you want to dance and of course, the exotic spicy food.

Wednesday

It's that time of year again!
Scary movies, candy corn and of course, Halloween images!
This is my piece for the school's annual "Gallery of Terror."
I decided to draw Wednesday from the "Addams Family"...and her doll.

Fall Leaves

I was sketching during Richard Hull's lecture today, messing with leaf designs for another project. This image happened and I painted it between assignments to keep my sanity :D.

Most people love the Fall season. I personally could live in a summer climate all year round. 

The changing leaves are pretty though!

Slugs and Snails and Puppy dog tails

What are little boys made of?

Slugs and snails

And puppy-dogs' tails,

That's what little boys are made of.

Animation by Cale Atkinson

I LOVE the artwork in this!

You can check out the making of this animation short on Cale's blog.

Projects!

I am happy to say I am spending the majority of my time lately working on a couple of commission projects. This is very exciting for me to have people (outside of my family) liking my art! I'm hoping to get as much as I can done on these projects before school starts since my workload for that will be rather intense. So in the meantime, I won't really be posting many personal pieces for a while! Thanks for following me :D

A little light reading

I loved reading  the "Harry Potter" books. I miss the anticipation of waiting for the next book to come out. Even though I don't get very much time to do a lot of reading lately, it was nice to look forward to something that made the hours spent so enjoyable, they would fly by.

Swing

Painted this sketch while watching the Olympic gymnasts. Felt appropriate :D

I spy a butterfly...

Another sketch I did a while back and decided to mess around with in Photoshop.

Still trying to figure out some brushes!

Afro Girl

I love it when I see girls with cool hair. One of my favorite hair styles is the Afro.
I did this sketch the other day and spent my Sunday afternoon coloring it.

Practice Session

During the Olympics opening ceremonies, I did a little painting.
One exercise my professors have me do in class is approaching Digital Painting 'Alla Prima' style. It is a great way to practice painting without busting out the oils. I used Corel Painter 12 to do a 'copy' of a photograph I found on DeviantArt:

Hair

Doodling while talking on the phone to my sister...

Woodland

My friend Roxanne recently asked me to do a piece for her. It's a baby shower gift for her sister-in-law. 

She wanted a woodland scene with a mother and child. It was fun coming up with this image, thanks Rox!

Disney's Paperman

This looks like it's going to be great! I love the look that they went with and it's set in my favorite time period. I grew up watching old black and white movies so it definitely tugs at my childhood heartstrings.


Part One



Part Two

Cotton Candy Carousel

More things I love about summer.
I had this image in my head for a while now and I finally got a chance to make it happen.
My family recently went to Lagoon and it was SO cute to see the little ones on the carousel.

Random Sketches

Some sketches I did for fun of a few classmates a while ago and thought I'd share.

Bedtime Story

Well, it's Father's Day and I thought this would be a fitting image to work on. I had the sketch done a while ago, but I decided to paint it by this date.

Sandcastles

I did this piece for a friend of mine of her two beautiful daughters. It was really fun to work on. Thanks Courtney!

Frog and Bandit

I recently watched "Smoky and the Bandit" for the first time and decided to make this piece for fun!

Willow Tree

Trees are fun to draw!

Little Bird

A little sketch I did the other day.

Reading

My mum celebrates both her birthday and Mother's Day in the month of May.
Here is a card I made for her.

Banjo Pig

Today I had the chance of doing a job shadow at "Imagine Learning" with the talented Maryn Roos.
She was working on a specific project that teaches Spanish to kids and used a style that is traditional in South America. Though it differs from her usual process, I was really excited to try it out for myself.

IF: Hitched

I was thinking of the quote: "Hitch your wagon to a star" when I saw this weeks topic.

Black Widow

Just watched "Avengers" this weekend and had to draw Black Widow. 

Mermaid

Messing with some different brushes in photoshop and mermaids with jellyfish are just fun to draw.

IF: Jump

When I last posted for Illustration Friday, it was over 3 yrs ago!
I've decided to try for round 2 and make an effort to post over the summer while I don't have classes.
What a perfect word for me to 'jump' right back into it! (Pun totally intended)

Play with Me

I sketched this in class one day during a critique and decided to paint it.